the Mississippi Winters'

Mark's siblings are scattered across the far corners of the country.  We don't get to see them nearly as often as we'd like.  When his brother, Kevin, and their family planned an Alaskan cruise, it was a treat to be able to see them for a couple days before and after (especially since we'd never even met their two adorable daughters, Lizzie and Maggie!).  

Kevin, Katie, Lizzie, and Maggie

After their cruise, we picked them (and Grandma and Grandpa Winters) up at the Seattle cruise terminal, then headed for some quality family time at the Pacific Science Center.  Our little people wasted no time in becoming fast friends.

Maggie and Graham

The Science Center is always fun, but my boys were totally captivated watching the mechanisms behind the toilet flush!

We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed the sunny weather (Seattle has been sunny since February... so strange!).

Once we were all fed and happy again, we continued our explorations.  I'd like to say that the kids were fascinated by the butterflies, but honestly they were much more interested in the fish in the pond in the butterfly house!

We had the great idea to get a picture of the cousins on this big caterpillar (Aubree was at school). Thane (big shock here) refused to participate.  This is the best we got:

Not surprisingly, the kids were happiest in the children's play area.  It always surprises me how much they like sitting in pretend cars.

We were able to head home reasonably early so we could enjoy time to talk and play at home.  Well, the adults talked, and the kids convinced Grandpa to spend his afternoon reading to them.  

Unfortunately, Kevin and Katie had to leave the next day, but Grandma and Grandpa were able to tack on a few extra days to join in a few extra activities.  For example, they came with us to Aubree's school's PTA carnival.  We were double booked that night, so it felt like we just ran from one thing to another trying to use up the carnival tickets (although the kids did do pretty well on the cake walk).

Following the Carnival, we zoomed over to a ward ice-cream social.  It was such a nice night, they decided to have the event outside.  

Aubree and Bryce quickly ate their treat, then ran around with their friends.  Thane gravitated to our wonderful Bishop/home teacher.  

They also had a spaghetti/marshmallow tower building competition.  Aubree's team got third place.  Not too shabby.

We love having family visit... even if sometimes Grandma gets a little carried away with trying to knock Thane off Kevin's shoulders.  ("I don't think this snake is going to do much damage... it needs more weight!")